The Librarians and the series finale (see what we did there) was entertaining, clever and as part of the “final curtain” a fitting end to season two. There were, however, some highly annoying things about the season’s end episode. Granted the theme of season two was all about Shakespeare and England (cor blimey) and horrible English accents. Or at the very least extremely watered down “Hollywood-ized” versions of the Queen’s English. The season was also about fictional characters, aka Fictionals, inhabiting real life.
Sidenote: Back on the accent rant: When your South African actor has the “most convincing “accent? There is a problem.
Colour this reviewer picayune, but if an entire season is going to be built up in order to have an English payoff, do not fall back on faux/contrived accents a’la Shakespearean pentameter in the arcane sense, but with modern day phrasing and the odd word. Take a breath, that was a long sentence…
That is not to say that the finale did not work and was not amusing. Au contraire. There were many funny moments that amused highly whilst gritting teeth at the atrocious accents and Oregon once again substituting for Jolly Olde England.
The Librarians utilize time travel and the episode gets to do a riff off of the “Terminator ” verse:
“Come with me if you want to live,” says a deadpan Moriarty.
South African actor David S. Lee also delivers, with a perfectly straight face his, “my British accent is better than yours.” Admittedly, it is but…There is no ” British” accent per se. Britain is made up of a few countries, Wales, Scotland…If the Librarians traveled back to England, at the time of Bill Shakespeare, they would be speaking English, not British… (not a thing)
Sidenote: Apologies to Team Librarian and the show’s makers, but come on guys and gals. So much of the this show is cleverly done. Do not let the side down by fluffing the English bits and using standard “Hollywood” tosh. Surely there are enough English actors (or even Aussie/Kiwi ones who both do pretty spot on impressions) on hand to have a bit more authentic “brit” for your buck…
Grumbling aside, Wyle is funny as the wildly overacting potential thespian and the dual storyline works extremely well. The execution of the present day events, Ezekiel Jones and Stone counting down the “five” seconds before Flynn and Eve return was heart wrenching and touching.
There are plenty of gags about time travel and paradoxes and so on. It is explained, by Flynn, that all time travelers have “winked” into non-existence. Thus follows a great sight gag: Wyle’s character references the first time traveler and a picture on the library wall shows a “dinosaur” standing on two feet…in clothes.
This “gag” will crop up later in a slightly different form. The storyline is that Flynn and Eve travel back to stop Shakespeare from creating Prospero (in his new story) while the remaining Librarians, along with Jenkins, must find any clues that Flynn “left forward.”
The two teams work simultaneously (sort of) to fix the issue of Prospero taking over the world, despite being a fictional whose “story” does not entail his doing so. Of course the entire Shakespeare portion deals, rather transparently, with the idea that the “glove maker” from Stratford-upon-Avon could not have really written all those plays and sonnets.
In the real world, a number of suspects are trotted out to be the real “Shakespeare.” Christopher Marlowe, Sir Francis Bacon and Edward de Vere are just three men that historians claim to be the real author(s) of Shakespeare’s body of work. In The Librarians and the Final Curtain, Bill writes his own words, but…With a magic quill.
(So magic in fact that this quill does not need to be dipped, or loaded, with ink.)
The quill is made from a broken bit of the “tree of life” aka the “Staff of Life” so, unlike real quills, it is not made from a feather but a bit of wood. Such ingenuity never ceases to impress.
Historical inaccuracies aside, the entire “smelly” bit between Flynn, Baird and the two “bumpkins” in the garden was not only funny, but entirely accurate. People in England at that time did not bathe often or well. Shakespearean performers of the time used to carry oranges (stuffed with cloves) on a stick and/or carry a perfumed handkerchief to ward off the stench of the audience.
Eve’s exclamations of dismayed disgust were hysterical:
Col Baird: “Ugh, ugh! It’s on me! His smell is on me!”
Carson Flynn rather wisely points out that “smell” is one of the things that films about time travel never mention. After explaining this, he warns Eve that there will be a lot of pus. With this last bit of helpful information, he then tells Baird to put on the clothes of the unconscious and very smelly local. Eve reacts accordingly:
“Uh, no, no, no, no, no, no. No way. Nope, nope, nope, nope. nope.”
Comedy gold aside, the show manages to bring in references to King Arthur, the round table, the lady in the lake, and the “return” of Excalibur. Some reviewers believe that Flynn’s being able to weld Excalibur, aka Cal, means that he is Arthur…a bit of a stretch, although Jenkins is a knight…Hmmm.
There are plenty of clever uses of logic and Shakespearean references that are brought up to solve the Prospero problem. (Hint: Check out Stone’s little spiel about carnations.) Moriarty and Flynn finally show how they really feel about one another but, the evil mastermind actually helps to “save the day” somewhat before bleeding out ink and disappearing.
It should be pointed out that the reading of Shakespeare, each quote pertanent to the issue at hand, was beyond brilliant.
The Librarians finishes with a lot of cute moments, a couple of “aw” ones and seemingly a promise that Noah Wyle as Flynn will be in a lot more episodes next year. While this can only be a good thing, after all, he and Eve Baird (Rebecca Romijn) make such a great couple, hopefully this will not mean less Lindy Booth, Christian Kane, John Harlan Kim or John Larroquette.
This was an entertaining season finale and now time will drag until a new season returns fall of 2016. One plea, and this is an earnest one, please TNT and makers of The Librarians, stop using contrived “British” accents (which are not really a thing, remember) and use real sounding English ones… This would go a long way to making Oregon stand in for any location as long as the players “sound right.”
Please.
With such a solid fanbase, Christian Kane will have to get more screen time! Indeed, more Stone! thanks for sharing Louise!
A thoughtful review. I must share your concern that there may be too much Baird and Carson. I need to see more Stone in action.
My skills as writing complainer must be waning. T’was not the Shakespearean “accents” matey, but the English ones. Prithee, one doeth not expect historic accuracy just better English accents, the real deal exists all over Hollywood and beyond, hire a Brit or two so that those of us who can tell the difference, can enjoy the reality. My complaint was not about “authenticity” of the Baird’s words…Thanks for sharing…
“Real sounding” English accents would have been just as inauthentic, however. The English accents of Shakespeare’s time were significantly different from modern English accents. If the show used authentic period accents, only a few Shakespeare nerds and English professors would understand it. Even at the Globe Theatre in London, only a few performances are done in OP (“original pronunciation”).
I wish they pointed out the difference between Moriarity’s accent and Shakespeare’s, and I thought Flynn’s accent was over the top. But for the most part, I thought they did an okay job.
Remember, this is a low-budget show. They were *not* going to fly in experts from London.
And thank you for sharing! I adore the show, it just does my nut when the accents and so forth are “messed about.” LOLOL
The accents didn’t bother me.. LOL I didn’t even notice.. I was enjoying the storyline to much.. Not enough Christian Kane as Jake Stone in this one.. a little disappointed the finale was a lot more of Flynn and Eve but knowing the writers of the show.. They planned it this way for a reason!! Thanks for sharing!